Short answer
Bitwarden is the strongest free password manager: its free plan covers unlimited passwords on unlimited devices, and Premium lists at $19.80 a year. 1Password has no free plan; Individual lists at $3.99 a month billed annually ($47.88 a year), with a 14-day trial. Proton Pass Plus lists at $35.88 a year and its free plan includes unlimited logins and devices. KeePass is free and self-hosted. LastPass Free works on desktop or mobile, not both.
Updated Oct 2026: list prices rechecked on vendor pricing pages; free-plan limits for Bitwarden, LastPass, NordPass, Enpass and Proton Pass corrected; prices that vendors show only by region or at checkout now link to the vendor page instead of an older figure.
Quick verdict
- Best overall: 1Password — strongest audit record, polished apps, reasonable price.
- Best free / open-source: Bitwarden — full-featured free tier, MIT-licensed, Cure53 audited.
- Best self-hosted: KeePass — zero cloud dependency, EU-FOSSA audited, free.
- Avoid if security is paramount: LastPass — 2022 breach exposed encrypted vaults.[4]
Full comparison table
Prices are list prices for individual plans billed annually, checked October 2026; first-year promotions are excluded.[*] All products use zero-knowledge architecture — the vendor cannot access your plaintext vault.
| Product | Encryption | Latest Audit | Open Source | Price/yr | Free Tier | 2FA Methods |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Password | AES-256-GCM + PBKDF2 | Cure53, Bugcrowd (2024)[1] | No | $47.88 (Individual; $3.99/mo billed annually)[1] | No free tier (14-day trial) | TOTP, Duo, hardware keys |
| Bitwarden | AES-256-CBC + PBKDF2/Argon2 | Cure53 (2023)[2] | ✓ Yes | $19.80 (Premium)[2] | Free plan: unlimited passwords and devices | TOTP, YubiKey, Duo, FIDO2 |
| Dashlane | AES-256-CBC + Argon2 | Cure53 (2023)[3] | No | See vendor pricing page[3] | 1 device, unlimited items | TOTP, U2F, Duo |
| LastPass | AES-256-CBC + PBKDF2 | Cure53 (2022, pre-breach) (2022)[4] | No | See vendor pricing page[4] | Free plan: desktop or mobile, not both | TOTP, YubiKey, Duo |
| Keeper | AES-256-GCM + PBKDF2 | SOC 2 Type 2 (annual) (2024)[5] | No | See vendor pricing page[5] | No free tier (30-day trial) | TOTP, YubiKey, DUO, RSA |
| NordPass | XChaCha20 + Argon2 | Cure53 (2023)[6] | No | See vendor pricing page[6] | Free plan: one device at a time | TOTP, hardware keys |
| RoboForm | AES-256-CBC + PBKDF2 | Secfault Security (2023)[7] | No | See vendor pricing page[7] | 1 device, unlimited items | TOTP, SMS (fallback), Microsoft/Google Authenticator |
| Enpass | AES-256-CBC + SQLCipher | Cure53 (2023)[8] | No | $23.88 ($1.99/mo billed annually; $99.99 lifetime)[8] | 25 items in 1 vault | TOTP, Authy |
| KeePass | AES-256 / ChaCha20 + Argon2 | European Commission (audit 2016) (2016)[9] | ✓ Yes | Free[9] | Full features, self-hosted | Key file + master password; plugins for TOTP |
| ProtonPass | AES-256-GCM + bcrypt/Argon2 | Cure53 (2023)[10] | ✓ Yes | $35.88 (Pass Plus, billed every 12 months)[10] | Unlimited logins and devices, 2 vaults, 10 aliases | TOTP, Proton 2FA |
How we evaluate password managers
Our full methodology covers scoring rubrics, source tiers, the recency policy, COI disclosure, and the correction process. No vendor paid to appear in or influence this guide.
Read the methodologySources
- 1Password (AgileBits). 1Password security model (opens in new tab); 1Password audit reports (opens in new tab); 1Password pricing (opens in new tab) Pricing checked October 2026.
- Bitwarden (Bitwarden Inc.). Bitwarden security whitepaper (opens in new tab); Bitwarden Cure53 audit 2023 (opens in new tab); Bitwarden pricing (opens in new tab) Pricing checked October 2026.
- Dashlane (Dashlane SAS). Dashlane security architecture (opens in new tab); Dashlane pricing (opens in new tab) Pricing checked October 2026.
- LastPass (GoTo Technologies). LastPass security incident notice (2022) (opens in new tab); LastPass pricing (opens in new tab) Pricing checked October 2026.
- Keeper (Keeper Security). Keeper security documentation (opens in new tab); Keeper pricing (opens in new tab) Pricing checked October 2026.
- NordPass (Nord Security). NordPass security (opens in new tab); NordPass pricing (opens in new tab) Pricing checked October 2026.
- RoboForm (Siber Systems). RoboForm security overview (opens in new tab); RoboForm pricing (opens in new tab) Pricing checked October 2026.
- Enpass (Sinew Software). Enpass security (opens in new tab); Enpass pricing (opens in new tab) Pricing checked October 2026.
- KeePass (Dominik Reichl (open source)). KeePass official site (opens in new tab); EU-FOSSA KeePass audit report (2016) (opens in new tab) Pricing checked October 2026.
- ProtonPass (Proton AG). ProtonPass security details (opens in new tab); ProtonPass Cure53 audit 2023 (opens in new tab); ProtonPass pricing (opens in new tab) Pricing checked October 2026.
- * Prices are list annual individual-plan rates in USD from vendor pricing pages, checked October 16, 2026, excluding first-year promotional discounts. Dashlane, LastPass, Keeper, NordPass and RoboForm show personal-plan prices only by region or at checkout, so no figure is given for them. Prices change without notice.